The Exes
by Alyssa86InMN
Summary: A short series of one-shots based on Rick and Kate's exes finding out about their family. Fluffy because I can't seem to do anything other than that.
1. Josh

**A/N: I've been working on this and another fic for several months and finally decided to start posting this one. There will be a total of 6 chapters, with the possibility of a 7th if I can figure out a way to write it. I mainly wrote this because one of my favorite Caskett scenarios are when they run into their exes.**

Kate and Rick sat in the waiting room of the hospital's cardiology wing, her unassuming demeanor not representative of her inner emotions. Rick was quite the opposite beside her, outwardly expressing his nerves of Kate's upcoming appointment by his fidgety hands and jittery legs.

"Rick, calm down." Kate attempted to assure him by putting her palm on his shaky knee. "Everything will be just fine."

"Kate, what if it isn't and it means we…"

"Katherine Castle?" a nurse interrupted Rick.

"Come on Babe." Kate stood and held out her hand for her husband.

The couple were led to an exam room where the nurse took Kate's vitals and told her to put on a hospital gown as she left to get the doctor. Rick asked if she needed any help, but she declined so he took a seat by the wall.

"I'm sure everything will be okay, Castle. I haven't had any complications in the last four years. Last time I was here Dr. Welby said everything looked great. I am certain that we can have the baby."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you or the baby. I love you way too much to ever lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere. We should probably be more concerned with _your_ heart at this point, Old Man." Kate gave him a teasing smirk as she took a seat on the exam table.

"Katherine Castle, you wound me."

There were a few quick raps against the door before it opened slightly. The male voice asked if it was okay to step inside, in which Kate responded in the affirmative.

"Hi, I'm…oh…"

"Josh? Where's Dr. Welby?" Kate questioned, instinctively bringing her hand to her chest despite being fully covered.

"He had a family emergency, so they called me to fill in for him today. I saw your name, but didn't make the connection. I'm sorry; I can reschedule you with Dr. Welby if that would make you feel more comfortable." Josh offered.

"Yes."

"No."

Kate and Rick responded at the same time.

"Kate, I really want to get some answers. I don't want to wait another week. I don't think I could handle another week." Rick met his wife's eyes and saw the discomfort, so he said with disappointment, "If you aren't comfortable though, I guess we can reschedule."

Kate took Rick's hand, smiled sincerely and said, "Okay, I can put my discomfort aside for the sake of peace of mind and the baby."

Rick beamed. "I love you."

The now-forgotten Josh cleared his throat and both Kate and Rick broke their loving gazes temporarily to get on with the appointment.

"So what brings you in today?"

"Well, as you very well know, I was shot in the chest about four years ago and we found out a couple of weeks ago that I'm pregnant, so my OB-GYN suggested I make an appointment with Dr. Welby to make sure I could handle a pregnancy."

"First off, congratulations on the pregnancy."

"Thank you." Kate couldn't hide her happiness.

"Have you had any respiratory problems during exertion?"

"No, not really. In the beginning the scars would pull and sometimes if I move in just a certain way it still happens, otherwise I feel pretty similar to before the shooting."

"Well, your blood pressure and heart rate look good. Pregnancy does cause more stress on your heart as you have more blood in your system, so the heart has to beat harder to pump it all. I will do an electrocardiogram to see if there are any issues with your electrical activity. I'm going to preemptively say that I believe you will be just fine sustaining your pregnancy, but if there are issues on the EKG then I would suggest talking with your OB about your options when it comes to labor and delivery."

Kate and Rick were listening intently on Josh, but upon hearing the potential good news they turned to look at each other, both with giant grins.

"I will have my nurse hook you up to the EKG machine and we'll talk about the results afterwards."

Josh excused himself to inform his nurse as Rick stood to be closer to his wife and took her hand in his.

"That didn't go as horribly as I was anticipating." Kate stated.

"The exam or having Motorcycle Boy as your doctor?"

Kate chuckled, "Both actually. We are going to be able to have the baby, Rick." She smiled peacefully, as though everything in the world was perfect, and wiped away a tear that was threatening to fall. "I am so happy. You make me so happy." She cupped his cheek with her free hand.

Rick kissed her palm and said, "Our kid is going to be extraordinary with your beauty, intelligence and strength and my ruggedly handsome looks."  
>"Let's just hope for both of our sakes that the kid doesn't end up with either of our rebellious streaks."<p>

**Twitter/Instagram: AlyssaWriting**


	2. Gina

**A/N: I am quite surprised by the response I got on this fic! It makes me happy no doubt, I just wasn't expecting my inbox to be flooded with notifications when I woke up.**

Kate had managed to stay out of the public eye since she and Rick found out, but now that it was July and Rick's latest Nikki Heat installment had hit the bookshelves, they couldn't hide it any longer. Rick hadn't even told his publisher/ex-wife or his agent and they were six months into their little secret, which was blatantly evident at this point.

"Babe, are you sure we should be announcing the news of the baby at a launch party?" Kate asked as she put on a diamond stud necklace.

"You are eight months pregnant, there is no way you can hide him tonight."

"Are you calling me huge?" her brow quirked at his reflection in the floor length mirror she stood in front of.

"You are pregnant, not huge. There is a difference." Rick insisted.

Kate smirked. "I was only teasing you. I could be the size of a steamboat and I really wouldn't care because we will get our little boy out of the deal."

"I love you." Rick came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her expanding middle and nuzzling her exposed neck.

"We should get going. We don't want to be late for Nikki's seventh debut." Kate removed herself from his arms to get her shoes from the closet. "I still can't believe you named the book 'In Heat.'"

"If my muse is going to be pregnant in real life, why shouldn't her literary portrayal be as well?"

"It's supposed to be fictional and lately the books have just felt based more on our actual lives." Kate said taking a seat on the end of their bed.

"Well in the book Nikki and Rook aren't married yet. We were married when you got knocked up." Rick smirked.

Kate glared at him while putting on her flats. "I seem to recall that we were barely married two weeks when we conceived, so it's pretty damn similar to me."

Rick offered Kate a hand in getting up from the bed. "Shall we go, Mrs. Castle?" He asked offering his out his elbow for Kate to hook her arm around.

"We shall, Mr. Beckett."

The stretch limo pulled up to the American Museum of Natural History where the paparazzi lined the red carpet set out in preparation for Rick's arrival. An attendant opened the car door to let the Castles out. Rick got out first, and then turned to his wife to help her gracefully exit the car. Kate opted for a floor-length emerald green dress that, while draped over her belly, also accentuated it making it obviously present.

"You are gorgeous, Kate." Rick whispered into her ear as he took her arm to walk the red carpet.

Kate grinned gleefully at how her life had turned out. She married the love her life and was expecting her first baby with him in a month's time. She was off in her own world, oblivious to the flashing cameras and yelling photographers.

Rick stopped to sign a few of his books for waiting fans who asked questions about their expectant arrival, especially since his fans were just learning about the baby like the rest of the press. Kate stood back as Rick worked the crowd, but finally returned to her side so they could enter the museum.

"Wow, Castle! This place looks amazing! I've never been to a formal event here, so I've never seen the Hall lit like this." Kate was in awe of the surroundings.

"It is pretty incredible. We should have gotten married here."

Kate gave him a questioning look. "As beautiful as it is in here, I am not sure I would have wanted a giant blue whale hanging from the ceiling in all of our photos."

"How many people can say they had a whale at their wedding though?"

"You can suggest it to Alexis if you want to host a wedding here so badly."

"Wait…what do you know? Is Alexis engaged and she didn't tell me?" Rick panicked.

Kate laid her hand on his forearm. "Babe, she never told me if she was engaged, so you don't have to worry about that right now. You go mingle with the guests and I'll go find some food because your son is hungry." She leaned up to kiss his cheek and sauntered off for appetizers.

Kate grabbed a plate from the end of the buffet table and started piling food on it. _They need to have bigger plates; do they not realize I'm growing a human?_ Kate thought to herself when she hadn't even made it half way through the buffet before her plate was full. Standing off to the side she tried to stay out of the spotlight for now and enjoy her food.

"Kate!" She turned to the voice. It was her husband's ex-wife and publisher. "Have you seen Richard?"

Kate swallowed what she could before speaking, "I told him to go mingle while I got food, so I'm not exactly sure at the moment."

Gina glanced at Kate's belly. "Richard seems to have neglected telling me something."

"We didn't want it to be public knowledge yet." She said, popping a stuffed mushroom in her mouth.

Gina swooped closer and under her breath said, "Is it not Rick's?"

Startled by such an accusation, Kate inhaled while still chewing causing her to start coughing. "I'm sorry, what? Are you insinuating I would cheat on my husband?" Kate finally sputtered out. "You know what? I don't really want to hear what you think of me, so I'm just going to go find my husband." She glared at Gina as she walked away.

Her hormones being what they were, Kate felt the undeniable sensation of her tear ducts working in full force. Before she made a scene, she raced to the bathroom. Pushing through into the bathroom, Kate made sure she was alone before shedding the tears. She hoped her makeup wouldn't run, so she dabbed her eyes often as she leaned against the row of sinks.

Not even a minute after entering the bathroom, she heard a knock on the push door and Rick's voice coming through a crack. "Kate? Are you okay? Am I able to come in?"

"Yeah it's fine to come in." her voice cracking when she called out her response.

Rick entered and quickly approached Kate. "What's wrong? I saw you leave in a hurry and you looked distressed."

"It's nothing. You should go back out there. They need you." She insisted while sniffling.

"I don't care about them. I'm worried about you." Rick smoothed his hands over Kate's biceps. "So what happened?"

"I was eating when Gina approached me wondering where you were. She was shocked to see that I was pregnant and then had the gall to ask if the baby was yours. I don't know why it affected me so much. The only opinion that matters to me is yours." Kate gazed into Rick's eyes. "I hope you know that I would never cheat on you. Ever."

Rick took her in his arms and started rubbing her back as she nestled her nose into his neck. "Of course I know. I trust you implicitly. I will have a talk with Gina. I refuse to let her get away with treating you disrespectfully. You are my wife, you are carrying our child and I'm never giving you up, so whether you like it or not you are stuck with me forever."

Rick could feel her smiling into his skin. "Forever is a long time." Kate lifted her head to meet him face-to-face. "But with you, forever just isn't long enough."

Rick chuckled. "I do believe these pregnancy hormones have caused my beautiful wife to become a sap. Maybe you have a little Castle in you after all."

Kate smirked and pointed to her abdomen. "Babe, I _do_ have a little Castle in me and he's telling me that his daddy needs to feed his incubator."

"Alright, let's go feed the incubator, but you are not leaving my side the rest of the night." Rick insisted, taking Kate's hand, leading her out of the bathroom and back to party.

**Twitter/Instagram: AlyssaWriting**


	3. Tom

**A/N: There was a little confusion on how far along Kate was in the last chapter. She was 8 months pregnant but she and Castle had known for 6 months, so that was why there was a little discrepancy. I apologize for not making that clearer, my mom hates that I assume people know what I'm thinking. Maybe that's another autism trait of mine... **

She hated cases that involved children. The ache she felt thinking of those little faces affected by murder only intensified when she had kids of her own. When her current case landed in her hands, she found herself calling her husband several times throughout the day to check on their little ones. She knew it was irrational to think something would happen to them just because she was working on a difficult case, but her love for her children rarely left her thinking rationally. When the case took a turn for the worst and the victim's four year old daughter was abducted, Kate had trouble controlling her worrying thoughts even more.

"Beckett, Major Crimes is here." Esposito called from across the bullpen as she leaned against her desk staring at the murder board.

Kate acknowledged him with a wave of her hand, but didn't take her eyes off the board.

"Well if it isn't Kate Beckett."

Kate turned to the semi-familiar masculine voice behind her. "Tom? What are you doing here?"

"I could say the same for you. I never would have expected you to still be working as a detective. I would have thought you'd be Captain by now." Her ex-boyfriend said, coming to stand near her with a giant grin on his face.

"Life is known to throw a few curveballs." Kate returned a polite smile. "When did you move from robbery to 1PP?"

"I left the 12th about seven years ago for the 37th and then was sent to 1PP a couple of years later. How have you been?"

"I've been good. Busy, but really good."

"I seem to recall that Rick Castle was still following you around when I left the 12th. When did you finally get rid of him?" Tom nudged her with his shoulder.

"I never really did." Kate admitted.

Kate and Tom both turned when there was commotion at the elevators followed by a child's boisterous chatter.

"Momma!" a little boy appeared from behind the barrier, running to Kate.

"Hi, Baby!" Kate greeted joyfully as her son crashed into her legs. "Where's your daddy?" Kate picked up the almost-three year old and placed him on her hip.

"I'm right here." Castle said, coming up behind them with a little girl in his arms, giving Kate a quick peck on the lips.

"For what do I owe the pleasure of you three visiting me?"

"It just seemed like you needed to see these two based on the numerous times you called home today."

"Sorry about that. Tough case." Kate leaned into her husband, giving her daughter a kiss in her dark brown hair. "Hey Babe, you remember Tom Demming?" Kate turned to reintroduce the two men. "As you can tell Tom, I never did get rid of Castle." She smiled at her husband. "These are our kids Finn and Evie."

"And Sprout, Momma!" Finn exclaimed.

"Yes and baby Sprout." Kate moved her right hand to the slight bump of her belly.

"Eight years sure changes things, don't they?" An awestruck Tom said. "How long have you two been together?"

"Married four years in November, but together for six." Kate responded.

"I am very happy to see you so happy, Kate."

"Thank you, Tom."

"Did you want to join Finn, Evie and me for lunch at Remy's? I know how you have been craving their sweet potato fries lately." Castle smirked knowing his wife could not turn down those fries.

"I suppose I could let you guys steal me away for about an hour. What do you think about that, Finn?" Kate met her son's vibrant blue eyes and he nodded with his whole body. "Sorry to cut out on you, Tom, but I'll be back soon." Kate grabbed Castle's hand as they walked out of the precinct each with a kid on their hip.

**Twitter/Instagram: AlyssaWriting**


	4. Kyra

**A/N: This will probably be a little OOC for Rick at least. Maybe Kate too. A guest reviewer suggested that the way I write Rick and Kate is cheesy and I will admit that I agree. I'm a self-proclaimed 28 year old naive, idealistic spinster and I've always been like that. I didn't take it as an offense, but I did take it into mind for future chapters. I hope you all enjoy these one-shots though! Thanks for the reviews, follows and favs!**

Rick and Kate Castle decided to take a week-long trip to Florida with their brood in tow to celebrate their oldest graduating from kindergarten. Normal families didn't celebrate in such an extreme matter, but being that they were millionaires and none of the kids had been to Disneyworld yet, they decided to go a little extreme.

"Kate, take a nap. I'll watch the kids and I'll make sure they are quiet."

"Rick, I can't expect you to take care of all three of them on your own."

"I do it almost every day."

"Yeah, well you also aren't on an airplane those days. You know how much the air pressure bothers Evie."

"Kate, I've got this. You just relax. You've been running nonstop for days." Rick leaned over his seat to kiss his wife on the lips. "I am ordering you to sleep."

Kate reluctantly laid her head back watching her husband as he held their youngest child before finally succumbing to sleep. It didn't feel like very long before Kate was startled awake to a loud screeching noise.

Disoriented, she squinted at her husband seated next to her reading a magazine and sleepily asked, "Castle, where's Wes?"

Without looking up from his magazine, he said, "I believe he just headed into coach with Finn."

"Rick! Seriously, I can't count on you to just watch him?" Kate frantically jumped from her seat.

"Kate he's fine. We are on a plane, with all the regulations he's safe." Rick said to his retreating angry wife.

Kate rushed into coach and found Finn chatting with a brunette woman who held Westley in her lap.

"I am so sorry, miss. My husband is an idiot." Kate apologized profusely, scooping up her youngest.

"Oh it is fine; I was just chatting with this little guy." The woman looked up at Kate and look of recognition of spread across her face. "You're Detective Beckett! You were the detective who solved the murder of one of my bridesmaids several years ago."

"Oh yes! You're Kyra, I remember."

"How have you been?"

"Still a cop for the time being but added three kids and a husband to the mix." Kate situated Wes in her arms.

"Three kids, wow! I have two myself. They are back in New York with Greg."

"We're going to Disneyworld!" Finn interrupted, excitedly.

"You are? Are you going to see Mickey?"

Finn nodded happily. "Me and Evie are gonna ride the teacups!"

"Is Evie your sister?"

"Yeah, she's up there with Dad." Finn pointed to the front of the plane.

"Baby, how about you go back and sit with Evie and tell your dad to come back here." Kate ran her fingers through Finn's hair.

"Okay, Momma!" Finn took off for first class.

"He's a cute kid." Kyra said.

"He is indeed, but he's also a handful, just like his father."

"What about his father?" Rick asked coming through the doorway to coach.

"Hey Babe, look who the boys ran into." Kate said, looking forward to her husband's discomfort after ignoring their kids.

"Kyra?"

"Rick?"

"Well, this is a coincidence." Rick said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"So you are the idiot husband Kate was talking about. I'm not really surprised." Kyra said with a smirk.

"Because he's an idiot or he's my husband?" Kate turned to Rick, smugly glaring at him.

Kyra laughed and Rick gave Kate a disapproving look which made her chuckle.

"Both actually." Kyra continued with the teasing.

"Are you going to be in Orlando long? We should have dinner some night, if you want." Kate suggested.

"That would be nice." Kyra said, picking up her purse from the floor, "Here's my phone number. Call me with a day that works for you guys."

"Great! Castle, we should go check on the kids, Wes here seems to have fallen asleep." Kate said. Rick nodded in agreement. "It was nice seeing you again, Kyra. We'll call you later." With that parting wish, Kate and Rick walked back to their seats.

"You only brought me back there to get revenge, didn't you?"

"What? You couldn't handle being with 'the one who got away'?" Kate teased.

"If you must know, she isn't 'the one who got away.' At least she hasn't been since I met then married 'the one.'" Rick gazed adoringly at his wife as she cradled their eighteen month old.

"She must be a saint to put up with you."

"She is extraordinary. You should meet her sometime." Rick poked fun at her.

Kate elbowed him in the side with a smirk on her face, "Jackass."


	5. Will

**A/N: One more chapter left. I might add another at some point, but I haven't had a decent and plausible idea for that one yet. Thanks for the reviews and follows!**

It was New Year's Day and five of the Castles were making their way to Rockefeller Center to ice skate. Rick draped the tiny skates of his youngest and his own over his shoulder while carrying the little boy. Kate was behind him holding the hands of their two oldest who each wore their helmets and carried their skates. The family hopped on the train and rode the couple of miles to the bustling tourist attraction.

Arriving at the rink, Kate and Rick sat their kids on an available bench and tied up their skates before working on their own. While putting on her awesome neon skates, Kate instructed the kids to stay put so they could all stick together.

"Do you want to take Finn and Evie and I'll help Wes since he's never done this before?" Kate asked her husband.

"Sounds good to me. Come with me my little minions." Rick held out his hands for the kids.

"You ready, Mr. Westley?" Kate picked up her three year old and placed him on the ice.

"Yeah, Momma!"

"Hold onto both of my hands and watch what I do." Kate skated backwards while her son scooted slowly along. "You're doing good, Baby!" she encouraged. Wes kept his head down watching his little feet moving along the ice.

"Momma! Look at me!" Evie called out as she, her dad and her brother approached Kate and Wes.

Kate looked up and grinned at her daughter. "Did you guys already make it around once? You are so fast!"

"I wonder how many times we will go around before you slow pokes do one lap." Rick teased as the three of them were standing in front of Kate.

"Castle, he's three years old. You can't expect him to be a skating prodigy, especially since he is your son." Kate pursed her lips to fight back her smirk.

"Well aren't you hilarious, Mrs. Castle." Rick responded sarcastically before switching topics. "Okay, we will see you two again in a bit." Rick leaned in and kissed Kate.

"Now get out of here." Kate swatted his shoulder before returning her attention to Wes.

Kate and Wes made it almost half way around the rink when someone loomed in close to them saying, "You still have those skates, Kate?"

Kate looked up at the sound of her name to be met with the face of her FBI ex-boyfriend. "Will, wow, I wasn't expecting you to be here!"

"I thought I'd join everyone else here. How serendipitous that we were two of the 150 allowed on the ice at the same time." Will smiled charmingly.

Wes yanked on his mother's sleeve to get her attention. Kate looked down at him and decided to pick him up while she talked with Will.

"So who is this little fellow?"

"Will, this is my son, Westley."

"Hello Westley. It is nice to meet you." Will said.

Wes hid his face in Kate's shoulder. "He's a little shy. I'm not sure where he got that from considering his dad's side of the family."

"Is your husband here?"

"Yeah, he's out there somewhere with our older two." Kate caught the slight look of disappointment on Will's face at the mention of her having a husband.

"You have three kids then?"

"Yes, Finn is my oldest and my middle is Evangeline. Do you have any kids? I remember getting a wedding invitation from you around the time I got married."

"No kids. No wife either, that didn't work out after all."

"I'm sorry, Will." Kate said sympathetically.

Wes started moving erratically in Kate's arms before shouting excitedly for his father, who Kate assumed was approaching from behind. She turned to see her family skating closer and she smiled.

"Honey, I think I'm too old for these two." Rick announced, sliding up to Kate and Will with Finn and Evie in tow.

"Babe, you are old." Kate teased, tweaking his cheek.

"You wound me, Mrs. Castle." Rick finally brought his attention to his wife's ex-boyfriend. "Will Sorenson, fancy running into you here." Rick said politely, holding out his hand.

"Richard Castle, I always knew you liked her." Will admitted.

"Well, I hope he more than likes me because I'd be questioning the last decade or so." Kate replied cheekily as her eyes gleamed at her husband.

"Momma, I want to skate with you!" Evie proclaimed beside her mother.

"Just a second, Baby." Kate responded, turning back to Will. "It was nice seeing you again, Will. I don't want to keep these three waiting very long though." Kate smiled sincerely. "I wish you the best."

"It was good seeing you too. Bye, Kate." Will said, as Kate set Wes back on the ice and joined her family again.

As the five Castles moved away from Will, Rick leaned toward his wife and said, "You are so lucky I came along and saved you."

"I could have been captain of my own precinct years ago if you hadn't disrupted my life." Kate teased.

"You wouldn't have been happy though, would you?"

"That's up for debate." Kate gazed at Rick for a quick second before taking his gloved hand and squeezing it assuredly.

**Twitter/Instagram: AlyssaWriting**


	6. Danny

**A/N: Here is the last one I have written out. This one is a character who is not on the show. I hope to write up more if I can think of some, but for the time being I am labeling this completed. Also the reason I didn't include Meredith in these fics because I couldn't think of an interesting idea for her to find out about them.**

When Rick and Kate's six year old daughter became entranced by the movie Mary Poppins over the winter months, the couple had to disappoint her every weekend when they told her it was too cold or yucky out to be flying kites. When April 8th came, the weather was beautiful and the earth had begun to dry up from the melted snow. Rick awoke that Saturday morning knowing he wasn't going to have to disappoint his little girl that weekend.

"I think it is the perfect day to pull out the surprises we've been keeping for over a month." Rick whispered to his wife as she slowly roused from her slumber.

"Evie will be so excited." Kate grinned as she rolled closer to Rick and kissed him, wanting to go a little further that morning.

Rick reciprocated the kiss immediately and started to smooth his hands over her body when the shouting from their three kids rang throughout the loft.

"Well, there goes that idea." Rick sighed.

"We'll pick up with this later, Babe." Kate said, quickly pecking him on the lips before jumping out of bed.

"Momma! Finn won't let me play with his Batman!" Four year old Westley cried out as he shuffled into his parents' bedroom with his worn and tattered security blanket in hand.

"Did you ask nicely to play with it?" Kate asked, taking a seat at the foot of the bed as her youngest came to sit on her lap.

"Here Wes, you can play with my Green Lantern." Evangeline offered, holding it out to her younger brother as she walked into the bedroom.

"Thank you, Evie. Isn't that nice of your sister?" Kate looked down to Wes, who was now cuddling the plush Green Lantern. He nodded in response. "Okay, now you go out in the living room with your sister while Mommy and Daddy get dressed." Kate kissed his brown hair and let him crawl out of her lap. Kate turned to see what her husband was doing only to find him sleeping on his stomach and his head buried in a pillow. She got up from the bed, walked to Rick's side and smacked him on the ass. "Castle! Time to get up!"

Rick startled awake. "Kate, why did you do that?"

"Come on, Old Man, we're taking our kids to the park." Kate grinned smugly as she made her way into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

After the couple got dressed, Kate went to the kitchen to get breakfast while Rick pulled out the fancy kites he insisted the kids needed.

"Hey guys, guess what we are doing today." Kate said excitedly as she stood in front of her kids on the couch.

"What Momma?" Evie asked.

At that moment Rick appeared from his office carrying three kites while singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" at the top of his lungs.

Evie looked from her mom to her dad and then back at her mom, her eyes wide with joy. "We're going to fly kites?!" she shouted, jumping from the couch and throwing her arms around her mom, then running over to her dad.

"We will go after we have breakfast, so you better sit down and eat." Kate instructed.

The three Castle kids quickly devoured their bowls of Cheerios and raced to their rooms to get dressed. Evie was the first one back downstairs, her excited energy making her extra bouncy. When her brothers took too long (in her eyes) she impatiently shouted for them to hurry up.

"Okay Evie, since you are the first one ready, I'm going to let you choose what kite you want." Rick said pulling out the three kites.

"I want the monkey, Daddy!" Evie jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

"So that leaves the frog and the robot for your brothers if they ever make it down here." Rick said, moving to the stairs and then yelling, "Boys! We are leaving!"

Finn and Wes trampled down the stairs a few minutes later and the five Castles finally left. While Rick carried the kites, Kate held the hands of Evie and Wes. Finn, being seven years old, deemed himself too old to hold his parents' hands, so he insisted on walking ahead of everyone.

Half an hour and one subway trip later, the family arrived at Central Park. Rick led them to an open area away from tourists and other people, which was a difficult feat in itself.

"The wind seems to be perfect today." Rick noticed as he got the kites ready.

"Momma how do we fly kites?" Wes asked.

"Your daddy will show you and we'll both help you so it will get up in the air." Kate said.

"Evie, do you want to get your kite up first?" Rick asked.

Evie's eyes widened in glee and raced to her father to learn how to launch her kite.

"Okay Evie, I'm going to bring the kite out further and toss it into the air and you hold on to the tether and unwind the string when it gets airborne." Rick instructed, running out about sixty feet. "Evie, I'm going to launch it!" he shouted back, throwing the kite up and watched as his daughter managed to keep it in the air. Satisfied he moved on to his sons' kites.

The Castles flew the kites for over an hour, occasionally having to re-launch the kites when they fell. Kate noticed a food vendor nearby and told her husband that she was going to get everyone a hot dog.

"I'll get five hot dogs please." Kate told the vendor as she started taking out her cash.

"Kate Beckett?" a man asked walking up to her.

Kate turned her head and smiled when she recognized him. "Danny Eichner. Wow, I haven't seen you since Stuy!" Kate approached him and gave him a friendly hug. "How have you been?"

"I've been good! I'm a doctor in Chicago, but I'm visiting my parents here. What about you?"

"I'm great. I've been working for the NYPD for, wow twenty years now I think."

"Everyone in high school was expecting you to follow your parents into law."

"I was planning on that too, but when my mother was murdered, I found a new calling."

"I'm sorry you had to go through with that." Danny said, putting his hand on her shoulder in comfort. "Did they catch the killer?"

"Actually I was the one who caught him with the help of my husband."

"Your husband is a cop also?"

"No, he's a writer. He started shadowing me for research when I was a detective and things just kind of happened between us."

"Momma!" Finn called, running up to Kate. "Dad told me to ask if you needed any help."

"He did, did he?" Kate looked out to where her husband and two youngest kids stood, Rick being not at all subtle about keeping his eye on Kate with Danny while holding on to Finn's kite. "I'll give you three hot dogs for you and your siblings. Tell your dad to stop being nosey." Kate passed him the food and he sprinted back to the rest of the family. She watched as Finn told his dad what she said and saw the look of indignation as he turned back to watching the kites.

"I should get going; I don't want him to get angry at you." Danny said.

"Oh let him. I'd suggest putting on a little show, but my kids are also over there." Kate chuckled.

"I really should get going though; my parents are expecting me in ten minutes."

"Okay Danny, it was really great seeing you again. Maybe we can meet up later and you can meet the rest of my family."

"That would be nice." Danny smiled.

"I'll see you." Kate gave him another hug and then waved as he walked off.

Kate walked back to where Rick was supervising the kids and handed him his hot dog.

"Sorry if it is cold."

"So, who were you talking to over there?"

"That was Danny Eichner. We dated while in high school, but it didn't work out after we both went to separate colleges." Kate turned away from Rick to look where Danny once was, "he was the one that got away."

"Um, oh. I didn't know you had one of those." Rick said, trying to hide his jealousy.

Kate stifled back a laugh, knowing she was getting her husband back for his earlier possessiveness. She finally turned to face Rick with a smug grin, wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips with hers. Separating Kate chuckled and patted his chest, "You are so easy to mess with."

"That isn't very nice, Captain."

"I'm sorry. I don't want to teach the kids that it is okay to pick on senior citizens."

"I'll show you senior citizen." Rick playfully threatened as he stole a kiss from her.

"Ew, you guys!" Finn exclaimed.

Rick and Kate turned to see all three of their kids staring at them, their hands on their hips and looks of disgust on their faces.

"Just you wait you three, you'll appreciate someday that your parents love each other as much as we do." Rick chastised.

The kids just stared at their parents until Evie asked, "Daddy, can you get my kite to fly again?"

"Kids don't seem to appreciate true love." Rick scoffed, giving Kate a smirk.

"Apparently not."

Rick let go of his wife and once again helped his kids get their kites in the air before joining Kate in the grass nearby to watch their kids.

**Twitter/Instagram: AlyssaWriting**


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